In general, only one Kirkendall plane can be seen in a diffusion couple. However, bifurcate or trifurcate Kirkendall planes have been reported in Ti/TiAl3 or Co/CoSi2 multi-phase diffusion couples (M-couple) [1,2].
The authors [3] have previously shown a numerical technique to analyze the movement of multiple markers (M-M) embedded in a M-couple taking the molar volume change effect to the diffusion direction into account. Using this technique, one can visualize the places where vacancies (lattice planes) are annihilated or generated in the couple. Here, we try to demonstrate the bifurcate or trifurcate Kirkendall planes in the M-couple and clarify the limited conditions of bifurcate or trifurcate Kirkendall planes by using this numerical technique.